My first OTP
Apr. 10th, 2009 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lazypadawanBelieve it or not, the first 'ship I ever fell for was NOT a SW one. Before there was Anakin and Padmé, before there was Han and Leia, there was...Derek and Nova.
*Cue up the Endless Love theme.*
"Who the @#$@ are you talking about?" you might wonder. They were the OTP of the animated space opera series Star Blazers, a Japanese import that was shown on American t.v. 1979-1980. When I saw ANH, I was only 7 years old and I couldn't have cared less about 'ships. Like most of humanity, I fully expected Luke to get together with Leia and conclude the first trilogy with their nuptuals. End of story.
But all of that changed when I got hooked on Star Blazers sometime in 1979. Star Blazers was shown on a local independent station at 6:00 a.m. Monday through Friday. I was so hardcore that I cheerfully got up early, so I could watch the half-hour show before getting ready to go to school. Who ever heard of a kid willing to get up early for anything? But my brother and I sure did for about a year. What could you do? You had to be rich to afford a VCR/Betamax in 1979 and there was no TiVo, no DVR, and no YouTube/Hulu in those days.
While the action and adventure were the main draws of the show for me, and I did kind of like the villain Desslok (I have a soft spot for tragic villains, I suppose), I found myself being drawn in by the romance between crew members Derek Wildstar and Nova Forrester. I'm not really sure why. What I recall most about their romance is they kept gazing at each other and calling out each other's names. Of course they were always in mortal danger, so that might be why. Derek had a cool do that wouldn't look out of place on today's surfer boys, while Nova was a tall, skinny redhead with big eyes and really long eyelashes. In their shippy moments, they would do things like stand on the deck of the Argo and look at the stars. It wouldn't be a real OTP though if not for the angst and boy is there ever. For example, when Nova seemingly sacrifices her life to save everybody, Derek yells, "Please God save her." I believe Derek also has a near-death experience that causes Nova to have her own angsty freakout.
Oh yeah, Star Blazers was hardcore stuff for an alleged kids' cartoon. That's because it wasn't, as is the case with most anime and proto-anime. Before there were neck-cracking bounty hunters and shish kebab deaths by lightsaber on CW, there was violence and sexual innuendo galore. Nova occasionally lost or tore her clothes, though the naughty bits were edited out for U.S. t.v.. Come to think of it, maybe THAT was the reason why my brother was eager to watch the show too.
Since only the first two cycles of the series aired on U.S. television, I lost track of Derek and Nova. The second cycle seemed ready to marry them off and I assumed they rode off into the spiraling galaxy together. Spring 1980 unleashed TESB and Han/Leia became my OTP To Rule Them All. So I never wrote fifth grade Derek/Nova mush.
I haven't watched Star Blazers in ages. While I'm aware there's a lot more to the series that never aired on U.S. television but is available on DVD, I haven't seen any of the later episodes or movies. Apparently it took a while for Derek and Nova to tie the knot. According to a Star Blazers fan site, here's what happens in the final 1983 movie that ties up the entire series:
The StarForce returns to Earth. Days later, Wildstar and Nova are married on the beach, and the StarForce crew comes out to witness their ceremony. Then the background scenery fades... as do their clothes. If you are watching the original, unedited version of thie movie, Derek and Nova then have animated sex to the tune of "Luv Shupreme" for about three minutes, with Nova crying at every other toss and turn.
We never saw any of THAT in SW but it does sound like something a fangirl would come up with.
Here's the happy couple:
Here's a sappy tribute video (warning: the same footage is repeated over and over):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRWPTqCbgiY
Here's the bow chicka wow wow wedding scene/sex scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vHsfRiFbhc&feature=related
Dave Filoni, I triple dog dare you to put an Anakin/Padmé scene like that in CW! Bwahahaha...
*Cue up the Endless Love theme.*
"Who the @#$@ are you talking about?" you might wonder. They were the OTP of the animated space opera series Star Blazers, a Japanese import that was shown on American t.v. 1979-1980. When I saw ANH, I was only 7 years old and I couldn't have cared less about 'ships. Like most of humanity, I fully expected Luke to get together with Leia and conclude the first trilogy with their nuptuals. End of story.
But all of that changed when I got hooked on Star Blazers sometime in 1979. Star Blazers was shown on a local independent station at 6:00 a.m. Monday through Friday. I was so hardcore that I cheerfully got up early, so I could watch the half-hour show before getting ready to go to school. Who ever heard of a kid willing to get up early for anything? But my brother and I sure did for about a year. What could you do? You had to be rich to afford a VCR/Betamax in 1979 and there was no TiVo, no DVR, and no YouTube/Hulu in those days.
While the action and adventure were the main draws of the show for me, and I did kind of like the villain Desslok (I have a soft spot for tragic villains, I suppose), I found myself being drawn in by the romance between crew members Derek Wildstar and Nova Forrester. I'm not really sure why. What I recall most about their romance is they kept gazing at each other and calling out each other's names. Of course they were always in mortal danger, so that might be why. Derek had a cool do that wouldn't look out of place on today's surfer boys, while Nova was a tall, skinny redhead with big eyes and really long eyelashes. In their shippy moments, they would do things like stand on the deck of the Argo and look at the stars. It wouldn't be a real OTP though if not for the angst and boy is there ever. For example, when Nova seemingly sacrifices her life to save everybody, Derek yells, "Please God save her." I believe Derek also has a near-death experience that causes Nova to have her own angsty freakout.
Oh yeah, Star Blazers was hardcore stuff for an alleged kids' cartoon. That's because it wasn't, as is the case with most anime and proto-anime. Before there were neck-cracking bounty hunters and shish kebab deaths by lightsaber on CW, there was violence and sexual innuendo galore. Nova occasionally lost or tore her clothes, though the naughty bits were edited out for U.S. t.v.. Come to think of it, maybe THAT was the reason why my brother was eager to watch the show too.
Since only the first two cycles of the series aired on U.S. television, I lost track of Derek and Nova. The second cycle seemed ready to marry them off and I assumed they rode off into the spiraling galaxy together. Spring 1980 unleashed TESB and Han/Leia became my OTP To Rule Them All. So I never wrote fifth grade Derek/Nova mush.
I haven't watched Star Blazers in ages. While I'm aware there's a lot more to the series that never aired on U.S. television but is available on DVD, I haven't seen any of the later episodes or movies. Apparently it took a while for Derek and Nova to tie the knot. According to a Star Blazers fan site, here's what happens in the final 1983 movie that ties up the entire series:
The StarForce returns to Earth. Days later, Wildstar and Nova are married on the beach, and the StarForce crew comes out to witness their ceremony. Then the background scenery fades... as do their clothes. If you are watching the original, unedited version of thie movie, Derek and Nova then have animated sex to the tune of "Luv Shupreme" for about three minutes, with Nova crying at every other toss and turn.
We never saw any of THAT in SW but it does sound like something a fangirl would come up with.
Here's the happy couple:
Here's a sappy tribute video (warning: the same footage is repeated over and over):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRWPTqCbgiY
Here's the bow chicka wow wow wedding scene/sex scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vHsfRiFbhc&feature=related
Dave Filoni, I triple dog dare you to put an Anakin/Padmé scene like that in CW! Bwahahaha...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-04-11 01:00 pm (UTC)I did take the chance a little while back to see the original Japanese language version of Star Blazers, "Space Battleship Yamato" (where everyone has a Japanese name), but only saw around as much of it as you saw back then. I also picked up DVDs of the "Yamato movies"; now, I suppose I have an added reason for getting around to them one of these days...
no subject
Date: 2009-04-11 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-12 04:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-11 02:46 pm (UTC)My first OTP was Catwoman/Batman from Batman TAS. I also had a major crush on Alfred.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-11 03:37 pm (UTC)How funny about the resemblances between the OTPs.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-13 06:24 pm (UTC)I was just a couple of years older (7th grade, as I recall), and they showed the series here at 2:30pm weekdays. This meant I had to be "sick" from school on a regular basis just to keep up with the show during the school year. I even taped every single episode on cassette, so I could listen to them in bed at night. I took pictures of the TV with a regular camera, had the pics developed and then drew the characters til my mom was sick of them.
You know, I didn't even know there was a third season of it until not that long ago. Now I'm determined to track it down and see it. :)
I traded SB in on Star Wars once I saw Empire. I still have the cassettes though, and bought the first 2 SB seasons on VHS a few years ago.
Heh, and I thought I was just about the only SB fan left in the world. :P